A man who was jailed for at least 11 years for killing another man during an alcohol-fuelled street fight in Sydney could be freed next year following his appeal.
Adam James Matthews was sentenced to at least 11 years' imprisonment in 2013 for the murder of Scott Miller during a row in Darlinghurst in February 2011.
Unbeknown to both men, Mr Miller had a brain aneurysm at the time and it burst when Matthews struck him.
He suffered a brain haemorrhage and later died in hospital.
Matthews pleaded guilty to Mr Miller's manslaughter following an appeal last year in which the 40-year-old's conviction was overturned.
In re-sentencing him on Tuesday, Justice David Davies said the case was serious because it involved alcohol-fuelled violence committed in a public place by a person who had a "most unsatisfactory record for violence".
The court heard Matthews was also on conditional liberty with a requirement not to drink alcohol at the time of the fight.
Justice Davies noted that, unlike when Kieran Loveridge killed Thomas Kelly in a random attack in 2012, Matthews knew his victim.
"There were obviously issues between them, and it is not clear who started the altercation which led to punches being thrown," he told the Supreme Court.
"Were it not for the fact that Mr Miller had the aneurysm, the offender would probably have only been facing sentence for an assault occasioning actual bodily harm."
The court heard the pair had fought in front of several people, with Matthews seen to punch Mr Miller's head several times.
Mr Miller fell back, hitting his head on the iron railing of a pedestrian fence and falling to the ground.
Matthews was sentenced to a maximum of seven years and six months and a minimum of five, making him eligible for parole in September 2016.
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